Blog #7 Initial Post "What Does The Way You Play Have To Do With Embracing Change And How Does This Impact You As A Professional?"

Blog #7 Initial Post

What does the way you play have to do with embracing change and how does this impact you as a professional?

This is a question that had never entered my mind...the way I play having an effect on my impact as a teacher?  Well, I decided to do some investigating on this idea and found that gamers are happier and more successful as adults (Trunk, 2013). Well, a happier teacher would impact students in a positive way.  Trunk (2013) also discovered that gamers are better at any occupation that is intellectual in nature (e.g. teaching) since gamers gather information and synthesize skills to become a better player and this skill building also makes one more specialized in their occupational field.  I never really thought about it, but lecture-style of teaching is a passive method to dealing with students and has very little effect on learning, whereas active learning is a great method for teaching.  So, I can only conclude that my lecturing has less of an effect on my student’s lives than having them play serious games.  Hmmm, that is a little painful to accept, but it does make sense to me.  So, in week #7, I am continuing to move from an “anti-gamer” in education to one who is open to using this method of learning in my own classroom...what an attitude change in a short period of time.

I guess, in the past when I heard the phrase “embrace change”, I defined it as whatever “comes down the pipe”, grab ahold of it, use it, and get on the bandwagon with everyone else.  Problem is, if there is a bandwagon, my personality doesn’t want anything to do with it.  But after reading chapter 3 of Thomas and Brown, I have a new idea of what is meant by “embracing change”.  Thomas and Brown (2011) define embracing change as “looking forward to what will come next and viewing the future as a set of new possibilities”  (p. 43).  I can do that.  This definitions does not force me to do the new-fangled ideas that are advertised as being the best way to educate.  It allows me to look at all the possibilities out there and look at how they can help me be a better educator.  One of these ways of change is the ever-challenging integration of play into the classroom.  As I have played in the Alaska Wilderness, I have become an avid boater and backpacker.  From this “play”, I have learned to integrate the outdoor skills I have learned into the classroom environment.  Over the years the State of Alaska has seen my passion of educating students about the outdoors by giving me grants for over $20,000 to train students to enjoy the wilderness safely.  I guess that this was a great example as to how my “play” has impacted me as a professional.  This being the case, I can only assume that my “play” with technology may also help me as an educator.  

Probably the most influential resource that got my head “out of the sand” (notice I love to use idioms) was a blog by Chris Rogers.  He said, “There are many from the 1400s and 1500s that refused to adopt new methods and navigational tools.  I am sure many of these guys were great sailors, but their names are not written in any history books” (2013).  I don’t think it’s being arrogant, but I would really like to be remembered for something in my teaching career that made a difference in kid’s lives.  I always tell my students to try new things, do the hard stuff, make stories with their lives by getting out of their comfort zones...but I don’t.  So, what has this week’s reading done for me?  It’s taken me across the line and helped me to embrace change as a professional.

Rogers, C.  (2013, July 12).  Embracing change:  The key to improving technology integration in the classroom. (Blog Post).  Retrieved from:  http://elementarytechblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/embracing-change-the-key-to-improving-technology-integration-in-the-classroom/

Thomas, D., Brown, J. (2011).  A new culture of learning.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Trunk, P. (2013).  Kids who play video games do better as adults.  Retrieved from http://education.penelopetrunk.com/2013/04/11/kids-who-play-video-games-do-better-as-adults/

Blog #6 Contribution to Learning...not sure why this didn't upload on Sunday, Feb 23 : (

Blog #6 Contribution to Learning

This week was one of those weeks where epiphanies happened and I believe I learned a whole lot more than I contributed to the class.  After watching videos, reading books, reading other student’s blogs, and thinking through my own personal philosophy of technology in the classroom, I was too exhausted and “brain-fried” to believe I had anything of value to offer anyone.  But, I did write to student teams about the great things I saw on their websites.  So many of these students really have the technology skills down really well.  I loved that they did such a great job on their sites and I shared a few things I thought they could do to improve their sites such as making sure the games they choose to highlight were games that would be useful to the majority of students who played them.  For instance, I suggested that games like flight-simulators would be fun and educational, but only a limited number of students would really benefit from it and become pilots, whereas a game such as one that Chrysler has available to teach students how to drive by teaching “rules of the road” might be a better choice because of the high number of students it affects.

When responding to blogs, I mentioned to Leslie my frustration with technology.  I guess I see it more now that I am on vacation in the Florida area and see so many people using technology, not as a tool, but more of a distraction of what is really important in life.  I sit at a cafeteria at Disney World and watch entire families sitting around a table, each with a phone, and not seeing the world going on around them.  No conversations...nothing.  It makes me sad that a tool that is so helpful and beneficial to our world is robbing families of time together.  I guess that is not contributing to learning to a certain degree, but on the other hand, it may help us to all focus on the awesome tool technology is, but also remember that it can be our biggest enemy as well.

Megan and Sara H had a few points I responded to on each of their  blogs.  I especially like the quote mentioned by Thomas and Seely about the teacher of the past was the authority and holder of knowledge...in fact, I had used the same quote in my blog.  But, the warning always comes to my mind that just because we read something doesn’t mean it is true or helpful to us.   We must filter and ponder what we read or hear from others and not accept what folks say as truth just because they are smart or appear to know what they are talking about.

I mentioned to Sara H that the hard part is helping our students to be wise enough to be able to distinguish WHO are the good teachers in our lives and WHAT is the information that is valuable and good in order to be successful in life.

I guess, my main contribution to this week had to do with a philosophy to learning...being very careful who we allow our teachers to be. In other words, we must be careful who we let influence us, and really careful about who we allow to influence our children.  Sure, everyone is a teacher, but is everyone teaching “good stuff” to those we are responsible for?  The answer is obviously, “No”!

Blog #6 Initial Post

How does the culture of your current teaching environment differ from the learning environment you experienced as a student?

In the reading, it was mentioned that some of us are “post-PC” or “pre-PC” as far as our journey as students is concerned.  But, there are also a few of us that I would call “pre-teacher-PC”.  Some of us…albeit a few, started teaching before technology.  The most modern conveniences I had in my classroom was an overhead projector and a whiteboard (you could actually write in different colors!!).  For teaching math, I had this huge compass and protractor that I held up to the board and used as a visual.  That was it.  So, when technology was introduced into my room, of course, I did the “unforgiveable sin”, like my peers, and used the convenience of technology to do what I had always been doing.  I failed to change my teaching style and forced the technology to be used in a stifled manner without allowing it to take me out of my box.  

Probably the biggest issue for me, is that I would love to integrate technology into my classroom, but I don’t know what that would look like.  I also don’t have the time to search and discover new ways of teaching.  My best resources for learning technology is from my students (they are experts at finding really fun Youtube videos and wasting class time), as well as from the new, young teachers we hire from year to year who have used technology as students and have been trained to use it as a teacher.

I do know, as Elizabeth Melville of Glencoe Publishing discusses, that it is imperative to integrate technology because State standards require it and research supports the positive impact technology has on learning.  Those facts are acknowledged and accepted, but the question of how best to do this seems to be unclear at times.  It seems that technology, when used by me, has a tendency to be “stuck” onto a lesson, or as a separate fun activity that doesn’t strengthen the learning.  My goal must be to implement technology in such a way as to strengthen learning by using the resources students use on a day to day basis so they can discover the applicability of the lesson.

As I implement technology into my classroom, I must not feel threatened that I am no longer the "dispenser of knowledge"...although I miss that.  I must be involved by being immersed in the technology my students are involved in so I can better direct their learning (Douglas & Sealy, 2011).  I must create a learning environment where my students can learn from their peers and communities online.  This is hard for me since it seems that I lose touch with exactly what my students are learning.

After watching the video of Kyle Gombloy (sp?), I was at first wondering at how I could ever implement Unity 3D into my classroom.  The learning curve for one of these programs seems really huge, then after you learn the “how”, you must then come up with a “why”.  Why would this be helpful to any of my students?  Then, the time coming up with a game, then designing it.  Phew!!  Too much for me...but, my students who are so much more “tech savvy” than I would love to use this program.  So, after hearing Kyle discuss his offering of free tutoring for classes, I might have a plan that would work.  I am teaching a 3 week mini-course for high school students beginning on April 28.  This would be a course of great interest to lots of students, especially some who have an interest in computer game design.  The great thing about this idea is that I am no longer expected to be the expert first, and then teach my students.  They can discover and learn on their own, with the help of Kyle.  What has happened in the past when teaching a course on AutoCAD (computer drafting and design) is that each of my students becomes an expert in a certain area and they become the “go to” person.  This allows all my students to be successful and build their self-esteem as they learn.  OK, I had better calm down...as I write, more and more ideas come to mind that are actually taking away my hesitation for using games in the classroom.

At present, I use an iPad to teach math using it wirelessly with my Apple TV so it appears on the big screen.  It is also recorded so students can access the lecture on their own.  I have all students turn in their writing assignments using Google Docs, I grade them on Google Docs, and share them.  I also expect my students to use online libraries and virtual bookshelves to do research for research papers.  Finally, I use animation sites to teach how to do constructions in Geometry.  That’s about it.  I try to use technology, but it is really hard to get out of the “old-timer” mentality and implement new ideas and activities.

In conclusion, as I reflect on the reading and the video this week, I am reminded of Dave Burgess’ methodology of becoming a passionate teacher by offering students creative teaching.  One of the highlights about Teach Like A Pirate is that Burgess not only gives theory, but he shows the reader how to implement the theory into the classroom.  Many of his ideas I have known about for years, but as time goes by, it is easy to get lazy and comfortable in my teaching and sometimes I just need the proverbial “swift kick” to be reminded as to why I am a teacher.

Burgess, D. (2013).  Teach Like A Pirate. San Diego:  Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Davis, V. (2014, February 12).  The Potential of Unity (Video file).  Retrieved from  http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/kyle-gomboy/      Thomas, Douglas & Brown S., John. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. Lexington, KY;  Melville, E, Technology Integration Strategies http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/tech_integration.phtml

Blog #5 Contribution to Learning

Combining innovation and excellence in the classroom is quite the conundrum for teachers.  I have discovered that many teachers struggle with this because of the inflexibility of administration as well as taking the time and neglecting the prescribed curriculum to do it.

Sara L brought up some excellent points about how important it is for the teacher to build relationships with their students so the teacher knows how to bolster passion in the classroom.  I tried to be an encouragement to her by saying that we all are challenged to balance time, energy, and curriculum expectations with the idea of being innovative in the classroom.

Reading Thomas’ blog took me back to the days when my family was young and I struggled, like he is now, with balancing my time at school with my time with my family.  As a husband of 32 years with 2 adult children, I tried to give him some advice as to the importance and priority family should have.  It is very difficult to say, “No” to administration, parents, or coworkers when there are jobs to do, but those jobs take you away from your family.  But, being able to turn down after school work once in a while does two things:  1)  it shows others that your priority is your family, 2)  it shows your family that they are the most important...you always win when this happens.  I also suggested to Thomas some ideas that may help lessen his time doing schoolwork.  He had a great idea of using audio books in his classroom...I am excited about trying this in my high school English class.

As I read Megan’s blog, I was able to look at a new teacher’s frustration in the classroom when they try to be innovative, excellent, and get through the curriculum...all at the same time.  I tried to encourage her with the awesome things a new teacher brings to the classroom and school. Finding time to be innovative is her struggle right now and I tried to encourage her to use small bits of innovation rather than step into huge projects that take lots of time, energy, and money.

As far as our group #2 project, I tried to be an encouragement to the students at Vicki’s school by praising them for the awesome job they are doing, but also giving them bits of advice to fix some grammatical issues in their writing.  I also worked at cleaning up my “instructions for teachers” in the use of the rubric by reading comments and then correcting and streamlining some things.  

Blog #5 Initial Post

How do we maintain excellence as we innovate?

Oftentimes, the words “innovate” and “excellence” are in direct opposition to each other since innovation carries with it new ideas and changes in the tested and true ways of doing things, forcing  excellence to no longer be a descriptor , especially in the arena of education.  But being innovative does have the opportunity to encourage excellence depending on how it is used in the classroom.

Throughout the years, schools have focused on analytical thinking skills that teach students that there is one correct answer to the problem.  But as Miriam Clifford (2013) discussed, when students are taught to develop a more divergent way of thinking, the learner is able to use many different ways to approach a problem.  This divergent thinking allows students to use a multiplicity of thought allowing them to solve problems in more creative and productive ways.  This innovative method of teaching students is new, but also promotes excellence in the classroom.  In this manner, innovation can work hand in hand with excellence and provide our students with an education that promotes a desire to learn.

Having the ability to teach both in a divergent and convergent way is not the only way to bring excellence and innovation together in education.  It is also important to expect teachers to innovate within the realm of standards.  Even though innovation seems to be the antithesis of following state standards, it doesn’t have to be.  The University of Wisconsin shares a guiding principle to bring excellent teaching together with innovation when they suggest that learning objectives must drive the innovations that teachers use.  This is an opportunity for teachers to encourage excellence from themselves and their students, while allowing themselves the freedom to bring new and creative ideas into the classroom.

As I was perusing websites looking for ways to be more innovative in my classroom, I stumbled upon an article by Saga Briggs which discussed many emerging technologies over the next five years.  I was encouraged to see that “gamification” was on the list to be fully implemented into the classroom in the next two to three years.  Briggs (2013) brings up the point that game play is proving to be useful not only in training, but in motivation as well.  As we are studying the use of serious games in the classroom, I am becoming convinced that gamification is an opportunity to bring innovative ideas and creativity into the classroom without losing course objectives or diminishing excellence in the classroom.

Briggs, S. (2013)  10 emerging educational technologies & how they are being used across the globe.  Innovation  Excellence.  Retrieved from http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2013/07/29/10-emerging-educational-technologies-how-they-are-being-used-across-the-globe/

Clifford, M. (2013). 30 ways to promote creativity in your classroom.  Innovation in Excellence. Retrieved from http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2013/01/10/30-ways-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom

Why educational innovation is important. Retrieved February 12, 2014, from

http://edinnovation.wisc.edu/why-innovate/

Week #4 Contribution to Learning

As we started developing our thoughts and discussion ideas into concrete “matter”, it was great to see them become a reality.  Sara L. got us moving in a good direction by initialing posting the rubric.  My responsibility was to follow her with teacher instructions for using the rubric when evaluating a serious game.  

I started with no idea as to the direction to go with writing instructions for using the rubric for serious game evaluation, but after some thought and “drafting”, I was able to come up with some preliminary instructions.  Although I am not happy with the instructions at this point, I do believe that I am off to a good start giving teachers some usable tool ideas to evaluate their serious games.  

As I read initial blogs from students, I am always impressed at the quality of the teachers involved in my graduate classes.  I love knowing that there are younger teachers who have the desire to continue working on their teaching skills and have the energy to do so.  A few of the comments I made to initial blogs included a resounding praise for passionate teaching.  I appreciated Dave Burgess’ and fellow classmate’s desire to find ways to be passionate for subject matter, even when you are not passionate for everything in the subject.  I suggested that even if you are struggling with being passionate about the lesson, there are still ways to make the class time enjoyable and profitable to the students by doing things that may be on quirky to your personality.

I hope I was an encouragement to Scott when applauding the inside jokes that take place in his class. In the years I have been teaching, I have seen, many times,  the student who is a social outcast and really doesn’t feel a part of what is going on in the class. But, if this student, by just being in the classroom, is able to feel a little bit of camaraderie because he/she “gets” the inside joke, sometimes this is enough for them to feel a part of class and involved.  I also, like I am sure Dave Burgess would do, encourage “weirdness” in the classroom.  The opportunity to be real with students cannot be overemphasized.  Even when our “realness” involves the eccentricity of many teachers.

Finally, I brought up the idea that “controlled chaos” is an excellent skill to learn as a teacher. I also suggested that a new teacher will almost always struggle with this concept as they usually have not figured out their place with classroom management and the idea of controlled chaos may be a skill to work on and use in the future.  My one suggestion to pretty much guarantee if the chaos is controlled, is to have the class move from chaos to orderliness when the teacher says something along the lines of, “OK class, that was great fun, now I want you all to face me, straighten up, get quiet, and listen”.  If the class does so immediately, then you are in control.  If you have to repeat yourself many times, or raise your voice several decibels, then the class is chaotic, rather than controlled.

This was a good week with lots of great information shared between students as well as from the textbook.

Week #4 Initial Blog

Essential Question:  How do we keep our lessons engaging? Does innovation play a part in this?

Keeping students engaged has been a conundrum for teachers for many, many years.  Teachers often wonder how they can make lessons engaging without being simply entertaining. How can they create lessons that are engaging and encourage learning?  With years of teaching behind me, and my share of mistakes littering my past, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot solely depend on other’s innovative ideas to make my classes engaging for my students.  I must be who I am and use other’s ideas that fit who I am to create in my classroom a successful learning environment.

With the key point being, “use your own individual skills and talents, rather than those of others, to make your classroom engaging”, as the foundation for quality teaching, I can “be myself” in my classroom and engage and motivate my students to learn.  I am rather shy and reserved and would really make a fool of myself if I attempted to begin my school year as in “Teach Like A Pirate”.  But, I can still be who I am and keep my students from boredom.  I, like Sheerin (2012), can use student-directed learning techniques and other innovative ideas to keep my students engaged. One way I have done this is by assigning projects that direct students to reflect on who they are and design and create “anthologies” of their lives through the use of technology to find sources for their project.  I can use my imagination in my math classes when giving “teacher-led presentations” and rather than use the names and “storylines” from the word problems, I can use my student’s names and situations from their lives in the problems...complete with stick figures of my students on the board.  I can change my teaching techniques by offering a flipped classroom like Barseghian (2012) suggests and offer fun drawings at the beginning of the video lecture to have fun with my students.

Aside from various learning ideas to engage my students, I can also work at building relationships with them.  This is easily done by sharing who I am with my students by telling stories, laughing, and encouraging my students to laugh during class.  This idea of not taking life too seriously, when controlled in the classroom, actually helps students to take their learning more seriously.  Probably one of the most innovative techniques to learning in my classroom has been the building of relationships between my students and myself.  I have discovered that these relationships create a better learning environment both academically and behaviorally by helping my students to be better engaged in class because of a desire to be a part of “what is happening”.

 

Sheerin, N., (2012).  Keeping students engaged:  here’s five tips.  Applied Educational Systems, http://blog.aeseducation.com/2012/01/keeping-students-engaged-4/

Teaching, J.,  How do I keep my students interested?  Teaching Community.

http://blog.aeseducation.com/2012/01/keeping-students-engaged-4/

Barseghian, T., (2012).  Five ways to bring innovation into the classroom.

Mind Shift. http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/five-ways-to-bring-innovation-into-the-classroom/

Blog #3

As our group worked together developing a rubric for evaluating the quality of a serious game, the main challenge was in combining and rewording our criteria so that it was concise and measurable.  After a couple of discussions, we put together, what I believe, is a well-developed and well-thought out set of criteria.  As a group, we believe that the game should have as priorities, "challenges", "encouragement", "learning", "entertainment", "problem solving components", and "collaboration".  The rationale for these rubric categories is that we wanted the game to be fun, meet the objectives that teachers want for their classrooms, and to make sure the students grew and matured through the playing of games.  As a teacher, it is often difficult to balance learning with fun.  If there is too much fun and not much content, games can be a waste of time, but if there is no fun in the game, students become disinterested and disengaged.  Therefore, our group searched for ways to keep students interested, but learn at the same time.  The rubric objectives do not include the word "fun" in them, but we believe that by challenging students, engaging them, using "real life" problem solving, and working together; students will have fun and enjoy being a part of the storyline of the game.  The above objectives also allow the teacher to meet their learning objectives as well.  I guess, in a sense, we are putting students in a situation where learning takes place, fun is a natural result of the game, and both the student and teacher have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction at the end of the game. 

I especially liked how well our group worked together on this project by adding ideas to the skeletal rubric until it became fully developed.  

Again, I have a tendency to ask lots of questions to get classmates to think through their ideas (the teacher in me does that), as well as ask questions for answers that I have no idea about. A few things that I brought up that I thought were worth considering when designing out rubric were:  "How can we make our rubric more measurable for teachers?" and "How can we change the wording to our objectives to make it concrete and succinct and not ambiguous?"  I also tried to be an encouragement to other members of the group and applaud their ideas.